City renews contract with Kayak

By Terry Murry on Monday, June 21st, 2021 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories

HERMISTON – Not every price keeps rising. The city of Hermiston has renewed its contract with Kayak Public Transit to operate the fixed route Hermiston Area Regional Transit. Assistant City Manager Mark Morgan said that when they started the service in 2017 they really had no idea how much it would cost to operate.

The city began by paying $150,000 for the service. That dropped to $125,000 in 2019. This year it’s budgeted for even less.

“With this next two-year contract, we’ve reduced the city’s contribution even further down now to just $50,000 per year,” Morgan said.

Morgan said that because of the work Kayak has done to secure grants, that price could go even lower.

“My hat goes off to Kayak and everyone over at CTUIR for doing such an amazing job in managing the finances of that system,” Morgan said.

Meanwhile, the city has had its excess funds placed in a special reserve account which stands ready to help during tougher times.